INDIANAPOLIS– Republican Mike Braun won Indiana’s gubernatorial race Tuesday, defeating Democrat Jennifer McCormick, a former Republican who split from the party after serving as the state’s schools superintendent, according to election plans. ABC News.

THE Braun’s victorya U.S. senator who is the wealthy founder of a national auto parts distribution company extends the Republican Party’s 20-year hold on the state’s highest office in deep-red Indiana.

Braun, 70, will succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was unable to seek a third term due to term limits. Braun chose not to seek re-election to a second term in the Senate so he could run for governor. He won the six-way GOP primary in May to succeed Holcomb with about 40% of the vote.

Braun quickly became the frontrunner in the race, with several advantages: fame, money and the support of former President Donald Trump.

Braun’s running mate, ultra-conservative Christian pastor Micah Beckwith, was not his choice for lieutenant governor. Braun had supported state Rep. Julie McGuire as his running mate when he became the GOP nominee for governor.

While Indiana delegates generally support the candidate’s chosen candidate without question, Beckwith was chosen by party delegates at the state Republican Party convention in June after lobbying delegates during a year to win the nomination.

Beckwith, who promotes hardline stances on abortion, gender and sexuality and co-hosts a podcast, “Jesus, Sex and Politics,” has sparked controversy with some of his comments.

Republicans have controlled the Indiana governor’s office since Mitch Daniels defeated the late Democrat Joe Kernan in 2004. And Democrats haven’t won a statewide office in Indiana since 2012, when Glenda Ritz won election as state schools superintendent and Democrat Joe Donnelly won the U.S. Senate. seat.

McCormick, then a Republican, beat Ritz for the school chief’s job in 2016 after promising better relations with the state’s Republican leaders following numerous political clashes between then-Gov. Ritz. Mike Pence and top GOP lawmakers.

But McCormick split from the GOP over education policy and changed her Democratic party affiliation after her term ended in early 2021.

McCormick’s running mate was Terry Goodin, a Democrat who served in the Indiana House from 2000 to 2020. Those 20 years were marked by conservative votes against key Democratic issues, including abortion and same-sex marriage, but Goodin apologized for those votes and promised he had changed his mind.

Braun and McCormick were joined in the gubernatorial race by Libertarian Donald Rainwater.

Hoosier voters were also deciding the state’s attorney general race Tuesday, choosing between Republican incumbent Todd Rokita and Democrat Destiny Wells. Rokita, a former conservative MP, is seeking a second term. Wells, an attorney and Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, ran unsuccessfully for Indiana secretary of state in 2022.

ABC News contributed to this report.

The video in the player above is from an earlier report.